My best friend, and former boyfriend, Green, just returned from his tour in Afghanistan. Even though he’s still stationed in Japan, and I wont see him until December, there are no words for how grateful I am for his safe return from war. It almost doesn’t seem real to me yet. Every day I’ve said a little prayer that he’d be okay and make it home without a scratch. He’s alive and well. What he has meant to me over the last 8 years of our amazing friendship cannot even be described in words with any true justice. I even still snuggle with Brady Bear, a teddy bear he had made for me in full marine blues the night before he left for boot camp almost 3 years ago. He is the most fantastic person I’ve ever known. There is no limit to his kindness, and his friendship and loyalty have been one of the most incredible blessings I’ve ever gotten to have in my short 23 years. He’s the kind of die-hard friend that would bring me chicken nuggets at work when I was hung over, drive all the way into the city to pick up my friends, or to just provide some comfort when I was feeling down. I adore him more than I can even explain.

I’m so eternally grateful that he’s home. Not hearing from him for weeks on end would make me incredibly anxious and worried. I feared the worst constantly. Now that I know he’s safe, it feels like we can move forward with our lives. It feels like we can finally make concrete plans for the future. The uncertainty of war is truly a thing that makes the heart ache with worry. I’m just so ecstatic right now. Having Green home will be a game-changer for my life. I know that having him around will make me feel safe like I always used to back when he was home. Once he’s back, I’m never letting him go again. Even though we’re far apart, we have never grown away from each other. That kind of love is priceless. I don’t know what will happen, or how things will turn out. Maybe he wants to go to school. Maybe I want to get a new apartment or something. Who knows what will happen. I just know that if we’re hanging in there together somehow everything is going to turn out the way it should. He’s a gem of a person and I truly am the luckiest girl in the world. I’ll never stop being thankful for the night I met the goofy Irish leprechaun in the hot tub at a friend’s house when I was 15. That moment changed my life forever.

Green, you mean so much to me. My family loves you like one of their own. You have always been there for me, even in the darkest of dark times. You’ve never judged me or torn me down. You’ve always wanted only the best for me. You were there every time I called and needed you to come get me at 3am. You were there when I cried over every stupid boy. You never left me and you’ve never left my heart. I love you always.